Laboratory for research on radioactive ion beams soon

How stars are formed, how does the galaxy look like — now all these mysteries of the stellar family will be unfurled in Kolkata.

Variable Energy Cyclotron Centre (VECC) is coming up with Asia’s second advanced facility for research on radioactive ion beams (RIB) in Rajarhat, which will also help in the discovery of isotopes that will have medical applications.

The advanced research facility called Advanced National Facility for Unstable and RareIsotope Beams (ANURIB) is coming up on a 25-acre plot in Rajarhat and the department of atomic energy (DAE), Government of India, has funded R850 crore for this project. VECC is presently waiting for the nod from the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC), Mumbai.

“We are expecting to get the green light from AEC in the next three months. The designing of the building are underway,” said Dinesh K Srivastava, director of VEC Catthe 36th Foundation Day ceremony of the institute. It is one of the five research and development units of department of atomic energy across the country.

Srivastava said that information on nuclear forces, nuclear equators and supernova explosions will be supplied from the Rajarhat centre of VECC. Besides, scientific applications of material and medical science will also be explored here.

TRIUMF, Canada’s national laboratory for particle and nuclear physics, and RIKEN, the natural sciences research institute of Japan, and also introduced the first advanced facility in Asia, are collaborating with VECC in this project.

Rare-Isotope Beams (RIB), which is a tool for research in material science, bioscience and nano-technology, will be used at this Rajarhat centre. However, VECC and Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics (SINP) will share this 25-acre plot in Rajarhat for their research works.

“Eight acres and seven acres have been allotted to VECC and SINP respectively by the state government in 2005. The rest 10 acres will be utilised for the common facilities like fire, substations and underground water,” said a scientist at the VECC.

On Sunday, VECC inaugurated its Lab-1 Building on a 1,500 square meter plot in Rajarhat.